Never Look Back
by Vintage Garden
Summary: Lucy is kicked out of Team Natsu, so she decides to go on a one-year leave to become stronger and more powerful. When Lucy comes back, she is a whole new person. Its the typical cliche, but there will be twists!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! This is my first Fairy Tail story! So basically this story is going to be another story in which Lucy is kicked out of Team Natsu, and leaves to become more powerful, but there will be twists in the story, I swear! Also, some of the characters may seem OOC.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

Lucy sighed, sitting at the bar table, watching her fellow guild members talk and laugh with the recently returned Lisanna. After Lisanna came back to Earth land, the guild seemingly forgot about Lucy, instead opting to be in Lisanna's company instead. Lucy like Lisanna as much as the next person, but it was so awkward being the only person who didn't have a story to laugh and share about the good old days. Even Wendy, being young, seemed to be hanging on every word Lisanna said.

Lucy knew she was just thinking selfish thoughts, and she was happy that such a close friend to the guild has come back.

As Lucy decided to call it a night, go back to her apartment, and continue brainstorming for her new novel, she happened to walk past her teammates who were cheerfully conversing with Lisanna. Noticing Lucy, Lisanna called her over to the group.

"Hey Lisanna, what do you want to speak to me about?" asked Lucy puzzledly. Lisanna never went out of her way to talk to Lucy before, what was special about today?

"I was just wondering if I could join Natsu's team, it would be just like old times! I already asked Gray, Erza and Natsu, and they all agreed, so I was wondering if you would be fine with it too!"

"Oh, um sure!" replied Lucy.

"Great!" replied Natsu. "Now we can go on a mission! Let's go on this one, its to take down some bandits that have been terrorizing the merchants on the road to Magnolia!"

"Wait!" Lucy replied. "Don't you think this is a little bit too late notice? I need to go home and pack all my stuff, the mission says it is going to take a least three weeks to complete!"

"Um, Lucy.." Gray started,

"We were thinking of just going as the five of us." Natsu concluded. "Me, Happy, Stripper, Erza and Lisanna"

"I am not a stripper, Flame Brain!" shouted Gray in indignation.

"Then why do you not have a shirt on, Ice Princess?" retaliated Natsu.

"Gray, Natsu!" shouted Erza, with an extremely scary face. Turning back to Lucy, she said "You understand, it would be just like old times!", feeling slightly guilty at the downtrodden face of Lucy.

Lisanna piped up, saying "Next time, we will all go on a mission. I just want to spend some time with my old friends once again."

"Oh, okay" replied Lucy, and with that, they parted ways.

After all, it would be only the one mission, right?

Time skip: Five months

Lucy had just returned from going on a small solo mission to keep up her rent, and went straight to the bar. She signaled Mira to come over, asking "Hey Mira! Do you know when Natsu and the others are coming back from their escort mission?"

Looking at Lucy, Mira inwardly sighed. "I'm sorry Lucy, but they already came back from that mission when you were on your solo mission. They went on another mission right after that, but they should be back soon."

Lucy sighed and stared forlornly at the table. "Oh, okay."

It was definitely not okay. This had been going on for months, it seemed like Natsu, Gray and Erza have all but forgotten her, and replaced her for Lisanna. Lucy was becoming extremely lonely, and she decided to fix the opening gap that was forming between her friendship with her teammates.

The guild doors banged open, and in came Team Natsu, who were laughing and talking loudly about their latest mission. Lucy got up from her usual seat at the bar and made her way towards them.

"..and then Lisanna swooped in and hit the monster right before it attacked, and it was all thanks to her that we didn't even end up tearing down half the village!" said Natsu.

"Hey guys! I know you guys just came back from a mission, but I picked this mission out for all of us to go on! It pay really well, 700,000 jewels! Here, take a look!" Lucy greeted them as she gave the mission to Natsu.

"Um, yeah, about that..." replied Natsu hesitantly. "You see Lucy, its not like we don't like you and all, you're a great person, but we decided that we are going to keep taking missions as this group here."

"You mean, I am not part of the group?" asked Lucy disbelievingly. "You guys are kicking me out?"

"Well, you can still come on missions with us sometimes!" said Gray. "Its just that, you aren't going to be officially part of the team."

Natsu added "It's just that Lisanna is a really big help to the team, she's really powerful and helps a lot on our missions."

Shocked, Lucy replied "So I'm too weak! Is that why I am getting kicked out?"

"No, its not that, you aren't weak, its just that Lisanna is stronger than you" replied Natsu, failing to remove the growing tension.

"Okay then. If I am no longer on the team, then I do not see why this conversation is continuing. I hope you guys are happy, getting rid of the weak link on your team" Lucy bitterly replied, before getting up and running out of the guild.

As Lucy ran home, she wondered what she was going to do now. She had no one, not even her nakama to stand by her anymore. After a long night of crying, she made the decision to take a leave from Fairy Tail, and build up her magical power so she can show her ex-teammates what exactly they just lost.

**Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! There will be more to come! I know I am not a very good writer, so if you want to IM me some suggestions to help me improve my writing, I would be very thankful :)**

**Oh and Spoiler Alert: I will be looking for OC's that are mages! So if you got an idea, IM me please :) It would be very appreciated!**

**Love,**

**Vintage Garden**


	2. Leaving

**Hey everyone! I am currently extremely sick and I have not gotten out of bed for the past few days. I am drowning in self-pity, woe is me. Anyways, onwards with the story!**

After deciding to leave Fairy Tail, Lucy returned to the guild the next day to get her stamp removed. Once she entered the place she once called her home, she noticed everything was normal. Grey and had just started a fight, and soon others in the guild joined in as well, creating full-blown chaos. Erza was in the middle of eating her strawberry cheesecake, be for an ill-aimed hit decimated the cake. Erza immediately became angry and menacing towards the poor soul who ruined her cheesecake. In fact, the only difference in the guild was that instead of Lucy being on the sidelines, it was Lisanna, who was soon pulled in the fray by Natsu as he tried to use her as protection against the raging Erza. Sighing at the sight, Lucy steeled herself and turned away from her guild mates, continuing to Markarov's office.

Once reaching the office, Lucy knocked on the door, to which she heard a "Come in!" and then entered.

"Hello Master, I wish to leave the guild." Lucy bluntly said.

Markarov was extremely surprised at this, asking "But why?"

"I need to re-discover myself. I was recently voted to be kicked out of my team, and even though my time here at Fairy Tail was one of, if not the best time of my life so far, my time here has ended and I need to move on and become stronger" replied Lucy with firm determination in her eyes.

Markarov was astonished at the fact that Lucy was kicked off her team. Fairy Tail was well known to be extremely caring, and treated all of its members as family and nakama. Fairy Tail did not discard their members like that! He could not, would not believe that Team Natsu would just kick Lucy out of the team, just like that.

Lucy, sensing Markarov's shock, said to him "Its okay. I have to admit, I am extremely mad at Natsu, Erza and Gray for ignoring me for so long, then coming up to me and casually saying that Lisanna is taking my place on the team, for I am too weak. But, I realized an important lesson. I do need to get stronger and gain more magical power, so I decided that to do this, I need to leave Fairy Tail and start a new life."

Markarov, saddened at the news that one of his children was leaving, asked Lucy one more question. "Is there anything I can do or say to change your mind?"

"No, you cannot change my mind. My mind is set; I need to do this" Lucy stated with resolution.

Resigned, Markarov gestured for her hand and as she gave it to him, he waved his own hand over top of her mark. Lucy watched in awe as her once-beloved Fairy Tail mark rose from her hand and disintegrated into the air. Marveling at the now naked hand, she bade her thanks to Markarov and started to head out the door.

Before reaching the door, Lucy heard Markarov ask her to wait, and when she turned around, he rose his pointer finger up into the air in traditional Fairy Tail salute, saying "I wish you all the best Lucy, and I hope you have a safe journey to wherever you will go in your life. Remember, even though you are no longer a member of Fairy Tail, you are still and always will be one of my brats"

Lucy, suddenly getting a little emotional at his statement, replied "Thank you Master, or should I say, Markarov, now." She gave Markarov a small smile, the first smile she has given in a long time, before continuing out the door of his office. Lucy continued throughout the guild, giving a small wave at those who happened to glance her way, before they continued on with whatever they were doing, oblivious to the fact that the hand Lucy was waving with no longer had the guild mark. As she reached the doors to the guild, she turned around, gave the guild a last glance over, and whispered:

"Goodbye, Fairy Tail."

And with her final farewell, Lucy Heartfilia was no longer a member of the guild Fairy Tail.

**Hey guys! I am so sorry for the short chapter, but I promise the next chapter will be better and longer! I just wanted to end it here because I like dramatic endings :) Expect another chapter hopefully (crosses fingers) very soon!**

**Just on a random side note, a fun fact about myself is that I feel really emotional when I am sick. For example, yesterday afternoon the ice cream truck was going past my window, playing its way too cheerful it gets so annoying song, and I started bawling my eyes out. Yeah. About that...**

**Anyways, before I embarrass myself further, I would like to thank ****purplekittyfans465****, and ****QueenofBlackCats11588**** for reviewing! I love you all! And, a special thanks to ****akhan121**** who donated an OC, you are an amazing person :)**

**Love,**

**Vintage Garden**

**P.S. I would love feedback, I really want to know if I am doing this story justice so far. If you have some pointers I can use to help my writing get better, send them this way! So, IM me or r****eview please! ****It would be much appreciated :)**


	3. Getting Stronger

**Hey everyone! The good news is that I am updating so quickly (Go Me!) but it may be a longer amount of time before I can update again (School is taking over my life. I am literally drowning in assignments and homework. No joke, I bet I already killed at least half a forest with all the papers and notes I have for school). The bad news is that I am still sick :( Anyways, onwards with the story!**

**Disclaimer for this chapter and the one previously (I forgot to write a disclaimer in the last chapter. I am a horrible person): I do not own Fairy Tail.**

After Lucy returned to her apartment after speaking to Markarov, she went straight into her apartment and gathered a small amount of necessities, clothing and her books that she would need, before going downstairs to talk to her landlady.

"I hope you have your rent to pay me! It was overdue last month, so I expect it to be on time this month" scolded the landlady when she saw Lucy.

"I have all the money you need, right here in this envelope" Lucy replied as she gave the thick envelope to the landlady, internally thanking herself for her foresight of saving the money she got as a reward from a solo job she completed a couple weeks ago. "I am leaving for a very long trip, and I do not expect to return. So, I am moving out of the apartment."

"But what about all of your furniture and other things?" questioned the landlady, rather surprised at Lucy's sudden decision to leave Magnolia.

"Do what you see fit with everything I left behind, you can keep it or sell it to someone else. I have no need for it anymore." Lucy answered, before turning around to leave. "Anyways, I have to leave now, goodbye! You were a great landlady, even though I still believe my apartment was ridiculously overpriced!"

Lucy smiled at her landlady, before dashing out of the building.

"Goodbye Lucy, I wish you all the best" the landlady said as she watched Lucy travel down the street, before she was a mere speck in the distance. She had grown rather fond of Lucy, and was sad to see her go The landlady then retreated back into the building, and started to count the money from Lucy's envelope. Surprised, she realized that Lucy had put in double the amount of money required. As she looked back into the envelope, she noticed a note stuck to the side. Pulling it out, it read in Lucy's rather messy handwriting:

_"I decided to give you double the amount of money for my rent this month to pay you back for always giving you my rent money when it was long overdue."_

Yes, the landlady mused. She would definitely miss Lucy.

.

Meanwhile, Lucy continued down the road, before veering away from the road and heading down the secluded path to the southern part of Magnolia forest. Once she reached a clearing, she used her keys and called out for Leo and Virgo to join her.

"Yes, my love?" asked Leo as he and Virgo appeared.

"Is it time for punishment?" Virgo chimed as well.

"Loke, remember that you are with Aries, and Virgo, no, it is not time for punishment!" replied Lucy exasperatedly, before she filled her spirits in on her situation.

"I swear, I will pummel that so called 'nakama' of yours until they can barely see straight" raged Leo as he made a break for the guild.

Rushing, Lucy and Virgo held Leo back before he could go on a rampage. "Wait, Loke! Just calm down" reasoned Lucy. "I need you to do something for me, that does not require getting in a fight with my ex-teammates."

"Okay Lucy, but I am only not going to fight them for you. Do not try to make me forgive them, because I will not!" Leo passionately said with Virgo agreeing, accompanied with a fierce glare, daring her to contradict him.

Lucy was happy to see her spirits care so much for her, and to stand by her with such loyalty. "No Loke, I am not going to ask you to forgive them, for I doubt that I can forgive them myself. I just want you to stand by my side for now, and help gain more strength and magic power. I want you to take me to the Spirit World."

"As you wish" Leo replied, and with that final note, he and Virgo whisked Lucy off into the Spirit World.

.

Once reaching the Spirit World, Lucy looked around in awe. The ground was dark blue, and the sky seemed to hold thousands of different planets. Right in front of her was a giant castle, in which she was lead into by Leo and Virgo. Once entering the castle, she found the Spirit King waiting for her in a giant hall.

"Hello Lucy, and welcome to the Celestial Spirit World! I have been awaiting your arrival" the Spirit King said with a booming voice.

"You were expecting me?" asked Lucy in surprise.

"Why, of course! I have been keeping tabs of you and your predicament and I knew you would come to me for help on becoming stronger" replied the Spirit King.

"So, would you help me?" Lucy asked.

"I personally would not be helping you directly, instead I have someone else who would take on the role of your trainer." And with this, another entered the hall.

"Wow..." gasped Lucy in astonishment.

**Ta da! Another chapter completed, and so soon too! (This may or may not happen again, I make no promises). On a side note, I really love dramatic endings**** :) **

**I would like to thank ****MadokaMagica1998****, ****monkeywahl****, ****starfire**** and ****angie shao**** for reviewing! Love you all! And a special thanks to ****, who reviewed for the first chapter, and whom I accidently did not put in my thank you's yesterday. I feel so bad, don't hate me!**

**Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, review and let me now what you think!**

**Love,**

**Vintage Garden**


	4. New Beginnings

**I was writing an essay for school, when I got a brainwave. Instead of writing my essay, I would write a new chapter for this story! Yay! (Trust me, it was much more fun to write this chapter then an essay on history) But sadly, since I finished this chapter, back to my essay I go. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

There, standing in the giant hall was a tall and lithe woman, poised with gracefulness and sophistication as she stared serenely at Lucy and her spirits. The woman was wearing a long billowing silver gown that glowed and glittered, moving with the light as if it was dancing with it. Her hair was dark, almost midnight blue with silver streaks in it, not making her look older, but wiser. But it was her eyes that were most captivating, staring into them was like staring into endless space.

Lucy stared in awe at the beautiful woman, who radiated such power. She looked at her spirits to see their reaction, only to see them kneeling down before the woman. Lucy quickly joined them in kneeling, not wanting to offend the person who obviously held a lot of power in the Spirit World.

"Nice to finally meet you again, Dareios" the woman said with a slight accent.

"Dareios? Who's that?" pondered Lucy, before realizing in embarrassment she had said her thoughts out loud.

"Why, that's me. Did you really think my name was Celestial Spirit King? That is merely my title." replied the Spirit King in good humour.

"Well..." stuttered Lucy, with a bright red blush covering her face. She, in fact, did believe his name was Celestial Spirit King.

Noticing Lucy's embarrassment, the Spirit King chuckled to himself before saying "It matters not. The person who I wanted you to meet, Lucy, is..."

"I can introduce myself" huffed the woman, before turning to Lucy and giving her a slight smile. "I am Caelicola, and I will be your teacher and mentor. I will not only be teaching you how to gain a bigger magic capacity, but I will also be teaching you different kinds of magic, and building up your fighting skills and physical prowess, so if your magic level is either too low or cancelled out, you would be able to rely on your combat skills. So, would you agree to be my student?"

Lucy's jaw dropped. This was the moment she had been awaiting for, a chance to prove to herself and everyone else that she will get stronger, thats she's not just another pretty face. Snapping back to reality, she noticed everyone was staring at her expectantly, before suddenly realizing that she did not yet reply to Caelicola. "Yes! Oh gosh yes!"

"We will start tomorrow at dawn" replied Caelicola, inwardly smiling at Lucy's enthusiasm.

"Okay!" Lucy readily agreed, though slightly disappointed at starting so early in the morning. "Oh, and I have one question for you. What are the other types of magic I will be learning?

Caelicola decided to have a little fun. After all, it had been a long time since she had a pupil. "Why, you, my dear, will become a Celestial Dragon Slayer and a Celestial Goddess Slayer."

"Does that mean you are a Dragon slayer, and a Goddess slayer too?" gasped Lucy.

"Close, but no. I am the Celestial Dragon, as well as Goddess of this realm." said Caelicola demurely.

"You don't look like a dragon" blurted Lucy in shock.

"Of course not. This is my human form. Now this is my dragon form." and with that, Caelicola transformed into a gigantic dragon, scales forming on her body, dark blue with stars and planets shimmering in the distance. Giant gold talons grew as well as extremely sharp canines. On her head, her hair turned into a crown which had razor sharp points. Only her eyes stayed the same.

Lucy was in complete shock. "B-but you're a d-dra-dragon" she stuttered, before fainting into the ground, vaguely seeing the worried face of Virgo above her before blackness shrouded her vision.

.

"Princess wake up!"

Lucy groaned, opening her eyes slightly to see Virgo above her. "Five more minutes" she groaned again before turning over in her bed.

"Princess!"

"What, Virgo? I was having a good, but crazy dream in which I went over to the Spirit World, and I met this lady who turned out to be a Goddess, and then turned into a Dragon."

"Princess, that was not a dream!" Virgo replied in slight exasperation.

"If it was not a dream, then why am I still in my ro..." Lucy started, before fully opening her eyes, looking hazelly at her surroundings. "om? Virgo, this is not my room! Where am I?"

"You are in the palace of the Celestial Spirit King, currently residing in one of the guest rooms. What you were 'dreaming' was not a dream." Virgo said, before cutting Lucy off again, knowing the question she was about to ask. "Yes, it means that you did in fact see a real Dragon."

"But, I though all dragons left Earthland?" questioned Lucy.

"That is true that all dragons left Earthland. I, however, am not one of the Earthland dragons. I am a Dragon on the Celestial Spirt Realm. Thus, as you can see, I am here." replied Caelicola.

Lucy whipped her head around, to see Caelicola standing in the doorway. "When did you get here? Were you here the entire time?"

Caelicola waved the question away, before saying "I am not the only dragon in the Celestial Spirit World. There are others, some who disguise themselves in human form and others who prefer their Dragon form."

"Which form do you prefer?" asked Lucy.

"I prefer my Goddess form, alas, I cannot be in my Goddess form around you, because you would not be able to survive after looking at me in my Goddess form. Only other divine beings, or those belonging to the Spirit World would be able to look upon me and not turn into stardust" replied Caelicola nonchalantly.

"Turn.. into.. stardust? Just how powerful is this woman?" thought Lucy, before shivering. She did not want to get on this woman's bad side.

Caelicola turned around and headed out the door again, pausing in the hallway before saying "Lucy, remember tomorrow we will start training. I will meet you in the Giant Hall. I expect you to be there at dawn" and continued down the hallway.

A few minutes passed before Virgo also left, after some reassurance from Lucy saying she could go and no punishment was needed. Now left alone in the room, Lucy thought to herself that this was the moment she had been looking for, it was time to leave old Lucy behind, and become a newer, stronger, better person. It was time for new beginnings.

With those ending thoughts, Lucy snuggled back into bed and dozed off with pleasant dreams. One thought crossed her mind, and she bolted upright in panic. "Wait, oh no! When's dawn in a place where there is no day, there is only night time?"

**Ta da! I may be a really big Greek Mythology fan... Kudos to anyone who gets all of my references in this chapter, and the ones coming up! Anyways, stayed tuned for more chapters to come!**

**I would like to thank AnimeLuver778, pixievomit, Kawaiijapanese, Coolanime14 and all of the Guests for reviewing! Y'all are amazing people, love you!**

**And I would like to give special thanks to XxCherryXJellyxX, akhan121 and Coolanime14 helping me with ideas! You guys are the best!**

**Review please! I would love to hear what you think about this story so far! Also, if anyone has any ideas for bad OCs, just PM me! (I literally found out just two seconds ago that it is Private Messaging (PM), not Instant Messaging (IM). Oops.**

**Love,**

**Vintage Garden**


End file.
